After his “Scottish coronation,” King Charles returned to London and Windsor, where he’s still working and doing events ahead of his first “summer” as monarch. QEII tended to do the same – she would go to Scotland in the first week of July for Holyrood Week, then she would return to London for business, then by mid-to-late July, she was off for Balmoral. Sometimes it was earlier than that, especially in her later years – she couldn’t wait to get to Balmoral and start her summer holiday, and she would often not return to London until October. Charles will do things differently – after all, he owns multiple homes in Scotland, and he prefers to spend time at Castle of Mey and Birkhall rather than the “big house” at Balmoral. As such, he’s extended the summer calendar for when tourists can visit Balmoral, because he’s not going to be using it. This is being framed as some kind of snub to Prince Andrew.

Already fighting moves to evict him from his Windsor home, Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew now faces losing his summer holiday venue as well. I can disclose that King Charles has decided to keep Balmoral open to the public for an extra two weeks, during the time when his younger brother would usually stay at the private Scottish retreat with Sarah, Duchess of York and their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

‘This will bring significant new revenue into the estate,’ says my man in the kilt and sporran. ‘It may, however, have the effect of annoying the Duke of York, who has treasured his time in Royal Deeside ever since he was a little boy.’

Queen Elizabeth would always begin her summer holidays at her beloved Balmoral on the last weekend of July. However, the estate, which was bought by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, in 1852, will now be open to the public daily until August 16.

It’s understood that the King will continue his own tradition of spending the first week of August at the Castle of Mey, in Caithness, the former home of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. He may then head to Birkhall, his home on the Balmoral Estate, while he waits for the castle to close to tourists.

Andrew could, in theory, visit the Aberdeenshire estate later in the summer, but he would need to be invited by the King. Queen Elizabeth invited Andrew to stay with his daughters and their families each summer.

Although Fergie was thought to have exchanged not a single word with her former father-in-law, Prince Philip, for many years after she divorced Andrew in 1996, she remained on good terms with the Queen. Sarah stayed several times at Balmoral, although she always left before Philip arrived. Fergie underwent a gruelling, eight-hour operation last month as she battles breast cancer.

‘The Duchess is in recovery from a major operation so she has made no travel plans at this stage,’ her spokesman tells me. ‘Summer holiday/travel will be guided by how she is feeling at the time.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I find it interesting that they’re making this all about Andrew, when really, it affects the whole family? Maybe Charles doesn’t have the same expectations as his mother, who basically demanded everyone in the family to trot up to Balmoral for at least four or five days every summer. Charles doesn’t even want to live in the big house, he wants to just use it for family dinners and such. But surely, by extending the tourism, he knows that most of the family will avoid going to Balmoral this summer? It’s funny because Andrew was probably the only one who genuinely enjoyed spending time there. Most of the family would just do the obligatory drop-by for a few days and then they were off to enjoy their real summer holiday.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.